Monthly Archives: June 2009

Rise of the Process Wiki

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A few weeks ago I became aware of Process Wiki  (http://wiki.process.io/) when the founder of the wiki left a comment on one of my blog posts.  I was curious.  Without surprise, the wiki site contains a good collection of example business processes.  You can join to be a member, and collaborate either by contributing more process examples, or by commenting on the existing ones.   Processes can be uploaded & downloaded as XPDL files, and the site has a converter to visualize the processes as BPMN diagrams.  Most sites have GIF files embedded in the page, but this is the first I have seen that you simply upload the XPDL file and it provides the visualization directly in the page. Continue reading →

The 80% Solution

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In a panel session this week at the eBizQ virtual conference (see here and here) I was asked “What common mistake do people make that causes unnecessary delay in BPM projects?”  The answer: Many projects have a goal to implement too much at once.  Some projects attempt to turn a manual process into a completely automated “straight-through” processes where there is no human interaction at all. Continue reading →

Avoid Mouse Candy

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Ah the things you learn from an emergency in-house BPM project deployment. If you think that all parts of a high tech company would be well versed and experienced in their own products, then you probably don’t actually work for a high tech company. So I was called in as an “expert” to expedite a very straightforward Human BPM project.

Thursday around 5pm: introduction to project. Friday morning: working prototype to prove the approach would work. Monday morning: the server up and running. Next few days: design and implement the application, including multiple reviews with the various stakeholders. I won’t bore you with all the details, but instead focus on one curious phenomenon that I call “Mouse Candy“. Continue reading →

Process Language, Agility, and Fitness

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When designing a business process, you need to design for change, because business is always changing and agility depends upon the ability to change.  Once you understand that change is a constant part of business, you know that the business process you design today is not going to remain static.

If you are going to design for change, it is important to pick the right language.  If you pick the wrong language, then change will be very difficult.  We say that a language is a good language Continue reading →